Collecting sex-crazed zombie cicadas on speed: Scientists track a bug-controlling super-sized fungus.

TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee to News@lemmy.world – 134 points –
Collecting sex-crazed zombie cicadas on speed: Scientists track a bug-controlling super-sized fungus
apnews.com

Holy title, Batman!

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WTF? He tasted one "for science"! While I understand there wasn't any other way to know... What if it Hay been a poisonous mixture? I suppose he'd tested it before against common poisons! Still, wow!

Of course he knew it was safe before he tried it. He's a scientist, not a daredevil.

And I wish people would be less against eating insects. If they ate more insects for protein and less beef, we would have much less of a problem. Just using cricket flour for more protein in our American carb-heavy diets would be helpful. And no, you won't be picking legs out of your teeth.

That’s true. Cricket farts are still a concern, but they only produce 20% of the methane that cows produce in relation to protein. Mealworms fart, but don’t produce any methane at all. If you’re not interested in trying a vegan diet, insect protein is far better for the planet than beef.

https://earth.org/crickets-can-help-us-curb-global-warming-and-enhance-food-security-heres-how/

They also require far less space to farm.

And rarely have issues with inhumane treatment.

Honestly, and I say this as someone who is both a vegetarian and someone who has eaten insects when he wasn't- I really could not care less about the suffering of a cricket any more than I care about the suffering of a cockroach. I guess that's where I draw my "if they suffer, I have to let it go" line. After all, there's more and more evidence that plants can arguably experience suffering in their own way, such as grass putting out a scent warning when it's getting cut. Is that grass, in its own way, feeling some sort of suffering? We don't know at this time, but if we ever find out that is the case, a lot of people will have to draw a line there to just having to let that go.

https://scienceillustrated.com.au/blog/ask-us/the-smell-of-fresh-cut-grass-is-an-attack-warning/